JEM: Not she! Though, finding myself here, surrounded with trout streams, you may imagine how I was naturally anxious to spend my days. Kitty said fishing was a bore, and after having come out with me once or twice, she sternly refused to do so any more. And why? Simply because she wanted to tramp about with the shooters from Danby. SIR W.: All this is but a trifling dissimilarity of taste, and insufficient to cause a real estrangement. JEM: A trifling dissimilarity! Why, our tastes differ in every essential point! Kitty has got it into her head that a woman should take an interest in things "outside herself." A friend of her mother's, who used to conduct her to the British Museum, taught her to believe in Culture--with a capital "C." To hear her talk of Pompeiian marbles, Flaxman's designs, and all that sort of thing--why, it's sickening! SIR W.: It strikes me you are unreasonable. JEM: Oh, no! I'm not! A woman who takes an interest in things outside herself becomes a nuisance. [Illustration: SIR W.: "IT STRIKES ME YOU ARE UNREASONABLE." JEM: "OH, NO! I'M NOT!"] SIR W.: And yet I believe that with a little tact, a little gentleness, you would be able to manage Kitty, just as I have managed your aunt all these long years. There is no doubting the dear girl's affection for you. Remember her joy when her mother's scruples as to the length of your engagement were overcome. JEM: That's true enough. Kitty was very fond of me three months ago. But it isn't only fondness I require of a wife. She must be bored when I'm bored, and keen when I'm keen, and that sort of thing, you know. SIR W.: Yes! I see. In fact, lose her identity, as your dear good aunt has lost hers! JEM (_aside_): Or, rather, as you have lost yours! SIR W.: Well, I'll try and view things in your light, my good fellow. At the same time, you must have great patience--very great patience, Jem, and then all may come right in the end. It _is_ true I never needed patience with your aunt. But had there been the necessity, I should have been equal to the demand. Now, I daresay your little quarrels have been but short lived; and that after having caused Kitty any vexation, you have always been ready to come forward with kind words to make up your differences? JEM: Yes, ready! But not _too_ ready, as I feared too much indulgence might not be advisable. Now, one morning, after having been out early, I determined to give up fishing for the rest of the day to please Kitty. On my way home--remember, it was before eight o'clock--I met her betaking herself to what she calls "matins." Now, I like a girl to be good and strict, and all that sort of thing. But imagine going to church at eight o'clock on a Monday morning! SIR W.: A slight error in judgment; you might easily forgive the dear child. JEM: I didn't find it easy. I said so. And Kitty refused her breakfast in consequence--only to aggravate me. SIR W.: No! No! Perhaps she fasted only to soften your heart!